December 12/97 15:40 pm - Awards Dinner

Posted by Editor on 12/12/97

Awards Night A Great Success
The first ever National Cycling Awards Gala, held last night in Victoria, B.C., was a tremendous success. Over 250 members of the Canadian cycling community turned up to take part in the Silent Auction (over $1800 was raised, through the auction of such items as autographed jerseys, memorabilia and donated cycling product) and the Awards Banquet. Among the more notable attendees were Alison Sydor, Linda Jackson, Clara Hughes, Curt Harnett and Steve Bauer. The ostensible reason for the gathering was to recognize to Canada's top riders, however, the REAL reason a chance for past, present and future stars of Canadian cycling to come together and share their experiences and, of course, party. Below we have some bits and pieces from various conversations at the Banquet (photos will go up when we return from Victoria at the end of the week), but first, a list of the awards and their recipients:
Club of the Year - Club Sportif de Bromont
Event Organizer - Gestev Inc. (Mont Ste-Anne World Cup)
Russ Coupland Award (Best Overall Junior) - Carrie Tuck (Alberta, 8th Mountain Bike World's)
Volunteer of the Year (Commonwealth Centre for Sports Development Award) - Fred Coyle
Male Road Athlete of the Year - Brian Walton (1st Track World Cup (Trexlertown), 7th Track Worlds Points race)
Female Road Athlete of the Year - Linda Jackson (1st Tour de l'Aude, 2nd Giro, 3rd Tour Feminin)
Male Mountain Bike Athlete of the Year - Kirk Molday (1st Overall Norba National series, 4th Worlds)
Female Mountain Bike Athlete of the Year - Alison Sydor (2nd overall World Cup, 4th Worlds)
Steve Bauer Awards (Most promising Male and Female riders) - Erin Carter (Manitoba, 16th Junior Road Worlds), Ryder Hesjdal (Victoria, 15th Junior Mountain Bike Worlds)
Corporate Award - Tim Hortons Donuts
Presidents Award - Brian Walton (in recognition of performance, sportsmanship and team-player attitude)
Community Leadership Award - Lesley Tomlinson, Alison Sydor and Bruce Spicer (for their Kids on the Shore mountain biking program for young riders)
Special Contributions to Canadian Cycling - Iouri Kacherine (National Mountain Bike Coach)
Bits and Pieces
- Linda Jackson flew in just for the dinner - "I would have loved to stay for the (National Training) Camp, but I've been on the road so much, I just want to get home for awhile". Linda is currently in negotiations with her Saeco-Timex-Cannondale squad.
- Mountain Biker Melanie Dorion has signed with Procycle (Oryx) for next season...Canada's top downhiller Andrew Shandro has signed with K2 (formerly Proflex, the deal is rumoured to be for 2 years)...Downhiller Elladee Brown (ex-Rocky Mountain) will be spending her time appearing in videos and shows for K2 as part of their Free Ride (oops, Cannnondale TM) squad. She says that she is really psyched about planned trips to Mexico and Chile - "it is so fabulous!"...Seamus McGrath (ex-Kona) expects to have his ride for next season lined up shortly
- Brian Walton was not at the dinner, because he is getting married today in Baltimore. He did a brief satellite linkup to the Banquet.
- It is getting hard to keep track whose hair is what colour - Melanie McQuaid has become a redhead, Alison Sydor blonde, Ryder Hesjdal blonde (very subdued for Ryder), Seamus McGrath blonde dreadlocks (Seamus had the strongest fashion statement of the evening, with a bright green tie),...
- Canadians Marc Lemay and Marie France Bernier have been elected president of the Mountain Bike Commission for the UCI, and (unconfirmed) to the Technical Commission, respectively.
- The CCA has awarded the 1998 Track Nationals to the Greater Victoria Velodrome Association (GVVA) - we knew this, but now it is official. The dates will be July 24-26. Also, the CCA is going to support a bid by the GVVA to host a Track World Cup event in Victoria in the 1999 season.
Canadian Cyclist Awards
We will present our own awards tomorrow night at Legends in the Strathcona Hotel (919 Douglas Street, Victoria). We are expecting a large turnout from the national team riders that are in town, and the local cycling community. Join us at 8:30 pm for the show.